Chinese Actress Gong Li to Chair Jury at Shanghai Film Festival

The “Raise The Red Lantern” star will help determine the winner of the Golden Goblet Award next month.

Chinese actress Gong Li will preside over the jury to determine the winner of the Golden Goblet Award at the 17th Shanghai International Film Festival (SIFF) next month, festival organizers said.

“I am honored to be the president of the jury for the Golden Goblet Award and to be able to work with elites from the international film industry,” Gong told the festival commission following her appointment.

She said she would lead the jury members to try to find films that “touch people’s hearts,” the Xinhua news agency reported.

Founded in 1993, the SIFF is one of China’s top international film events. Previous jury presidents include Luc Besson, John Woo and Jean-Jacques Annaud. This year’s film festival is scheduled to run from June 14 to 22.

Gong was previously president of the jury at the Berlin International Film Festival in 2001 and the Venice International Film Festival a year later. She was named Best Actress at the 1992 Venice festival and she won the Golden Bear in Berlin in 1987. She made her debut in Zhang Yimou’s 1987 Red Sorghum, and reunites with Zhang in the upcoming Coming Home.